Avalon House Not To Become A Homeless Shelter
Avalon House will not become 150-bed homeless shelter following local objections.
The Peter McVerry Trust had planned on opening the homeless hostel at Avalon House on Aungier Street in January but followingobjections from residents, councillors and local businesses, those plans have now been scrapped. A family hub will open at the Dublin 2 site instead.
Dublin City Centre was brought to a standstill as locals took to the streets to protest against the proposed plans, highlighting the number of homeless shelters already in the area and the primary schools nearby. They held signs with “Homes not hostels,” “Children first!” and “Please save our community” in bold letters, while chants of “no more hostels, build more homes” and “rehab not institutions” were passionately recited.
Avalon House was originally built in 1872 as a medical school. It had been run as a tourist hostel since the early 1990s but The Peter McVerry Trust, along with the Dublin Region Homeless Executive (DRHE), thought it would be better put to use as emergency accommodation. After some careful consideration those plans were shelved and Avalon House will now be a 30-suite family hub.
The trust released a statement saying: “Peter McVerry Trust is committed, in partnership with the DRHE, to reducing homelessness across the city.”
“Our Planned new hostel at Avalon House was a sincere effort on our part to reduce street homelessness in the city.”
“However, given the concerns raised about the concentration of hostel beds in this area of the city and following consultation with the DRHE, we now propose to reconfigure Avalon House into 30 suite family hub to support families out of B&Bs and hotels and assist them into housing.”
